Australia legend and spinner Nathan Lyon joined India cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to suggest for a three-match Test series in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
After back-to-back defeats in the WTC finals against New Zealand in 2021 and against Australia in 2023, India captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, respectively, had initially suggested the idea for a three-match affair.
Following the 2022 final defeat, Kohli had called for a best-of-three affair for the WTC final, as he felt that it would be more fairer.
"I am not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game. If it is a Test series, it has to be a test of character over three Tests - which team has the ability to come back in the series, or totally blow away the other team. It can't just be pressure applied over two days of good cricket and then you suddenly you are not a good Test side anymore. I don't believe in it," Kohli said.
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"It has to be a hard grind and something that definitely needs to be worked around in the future. At the end of three matches, where there's effort, there's ups and downs, there's situations changing during the course of the series, a chance to rectify the things you have done in the first game, and then really see who is the better side over the course of a three-match series or something, will be a good measure of how things really are," Kohli had suggested.
Similarly following India's defeat to Australia in the 2023 WTC final, Rohit put out a similar suggestion, saying: "A three-match series would be nice but it's about finding that window, where it can fit in. An event like this you work hard for two years and then you only have one shot at it."
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'Three-match series' - What did Nathan Lyon say about the WTC Final format?
Speaking to the International Cricket Council (ICC) media, Australia star off spinner Lyon suggested a change in format of the WTC Final as he echoed the previous suggestions of India cricketers Rohit and Kohli.
"One thing I would like to see, I'd like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series. That may become a little bit better because you potentially can lose a Test match in one session where it [as a three-match series] may allow teams to bounce back and show their dominance and win 3-0. We're pretty time-poor anyway and that's going to be a challenge but that's one thing I would change," Lyon told ICC.
Further, Lyon expanded on his suggestion saying the matches can be in different continents or in top cricket countries like India, Australia and England.
"You potentially could go one in England, one in India, one in Australia, so you have all different conditions, but obviously, the timing of that changes everything. I don't think we're going to get on the MCG in the middle of August, just putting it out there."
He also backed the introduction of WTC as he believed that teams still have a lot of play for in every single Test match, saying that it has eliminated the bore of "dead rubbers".
"Oh, yeah. I'll just say it's [WTC] the pinnacle for Test cricket. People say it's sometimes a dead rubber when you turn 2-0 up in a three-match series or whatever it may be. But I feel like there's no more dead rubbers. I've never considered them dead rubbers, but there's always points on offer now. You look at us last year losing against the West Indies at the Gabba hurt us a fair bit," he said.
"It's not tournament play. You can't just be scraping into the semi-finals and losing two games or what not. You've got to be consistent over the two years of the cycle," Lyon concluded.
India, who has reached the WTC final but have lost both finals, to New Zealand and then Australia is likely to make the third final, which has now been confirmed to be played at Lord's in from June 11.
MORE: WTC Final 2025: Date, venue, fixture and schedule
World Test Championship 2023 - 2025 Points Table (as of September 05)
| Pos. | Team | M | W | L | D | Pts. | Pts % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 74 | 68.52% |
| 2 | Australia | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 90 | 62.50% |
| 3 | New Zealand | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 36 | 50% |
| 4 | Bangladesh | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 45.83% |
| 5 | England | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 81 | 45.00% |
| 6 | South Africa | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 38.89% |
| 7 | Sri Lanka | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 33.33% |
| 8 | Pakistan | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 22.22% |
| 9 | West Indies | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 18.52% |
